dia orang

Malay

Alternative forms

• diorang, dorang

Etymology

Calque of Hokkien 伊儂 / 伊侬 (i-lâng, “they; them; their”, literally “he/she people”). Originally Baba Malay. Compare kita orang and kau orang.

Pronunciation

• (short form):
  • IPA^(key): [di.o.raŋ]

    • Audio (Malaysia):

      (file)

  • IPA^(key): [do.raŋ]

    • Audio (Malaysia):

      (file)

• (full form, uncommon):
  • (schwa-variety) IPA^(key): [di.ə ʔo.raŋ]

    • Audio (Malaysia):

      (file)

  • (Baku) IPA^(key): [di.a ʔo.raŋ]

    • Audio (Malaysia):

      (file)

• Hyphenation: di‧a o‧rang

Pronoun

dia orang

1. (informal) Third person plural pronoun; they, them.

   Synonyms: mereka (formal), depa (Kedah)

   Dia orang tengah buat apa?

   What are they doing?

See also

Malay personal pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st person	saya1 aku3	kita4 kami2 & 5 kita orang3 & 5
2nd person	awak1 anda2 awda8 (eng)kau3 kamu3	(2nd person) + semua6 kalian2 (eng)kau orang3
3rd person	dia ia beliau7 -nya2	mereka2 dia orang3

¹ Polite.
² Formal.
³ Informal.
⁴ Includes the listener (inclusive).
⁵ Excludes the listener (exclusive).
⁶ Formality depends on the second person pronoun used.
⁷ Honorific.
⁸ Formal (Brunei).

Notes:

• This table mostly only shows personal pronouns that are commonly used in the standard language and within the Klang Valley area.
• The second person pronouns are often replaced by kinship terms, titles, or the like.
• The enclitic -nya is only used obliquely (as an object or possessor).
• The second person pronoun kamu is usually only used when speaking with younger speakers.

See each entry for more information.

Further reading

• "dia orang" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017